captioning sponsored by cbs ♪ >> o'donnell: tonight, we are here in minneapolis where hundreds have gathered to pay tribute to george floyd. there were those who mourned, and there were those who spoke out. >> it's time for us to stand up in george's name and say, "get your knee off our necks!" >> o'donnell: as people everywhere, from new york to london to beirut, gathered to remember. clashes with police: law enforcement in new york under fire after images show aggressive tactics to disperse peaceful protesters. and more police officers are violently attacked. breaking news on the ahmaud arbery case: the man charged with the killing of a georgia jogger is accused of yelling

racial expletives after shooting him. the latest tonight in the investigation. trump versus the generals: tonight, what the president's former chief of staff, general john kelly, is saying about the blistering critique of former defense secretary general james mattis. open for business: crowds hitting the casinos as las vegas reopens in a big way, even as cases rise in 19 states. a mural for justice: steps away from where george floyd died, we speak to the artists who brought hope to a community in need. and, a conversation wth community leaders here about a moment they say has already changed us as a country. this is the "cbs evening news" with norah o'donnell, reporting tonight from minneapolis. >> o'donnell: good evening, and thank you for joining us.

it has been a day of raw emotion here in minneapolis as this city and the country, mourned a man whose death has inspired a movement. we are witnessing it right n. tonight, we are just steps away nights ago, as minneapolis police officers pressed their knees into his neck and body. and as we visited with members of the community today, we were struck by how many people now come to this corner every day to reflect on what happened and to call for change. today was the first of several services for george floyd, and as he was being eulogized by civil rights leaders, in washington, hundreds gathered at the martin luther king jr. memorial. tonight, the protests and marches sparked by his death are growing ery citi lifting curfews after mostly peaceful demonstrations. at the same time today, in two courtrooms, we saw just how floyd's death is forcing this

country to confront painful truths about the treatment of african americans. here in minneapolis, three police officers charged with aiding and abetting murder in floyd's death were in court, while in georgia, there was a stunning development in the death of ahmaud arbery, who was shot while jogging in his neighborhood. today, investigators told a judge the man accused of killing arbery stood over his body and called him a racial epithet. well, there's a lot of news to get to tonight, and our team of correspondents is standing by. cbs' jeff pegues is here with me and is going to lead off our coverage. it was amazing just to see the family come through here and this crowd give them an enormous amount of respect. >> reporter: it was quite the sight to see. and the memorial service today, norah, it was george floyd's goodbye to minneapolis, a city he had moved to in search of a better opportunity. the nearly two-hour service celebrated who he was, but also highlighted the brutal way in which he died.

it was a day filled with emotional moments. the minneapolis police chief kneeling as george floyd's hearse arrived. a distraught mayor weeping at the golden casket. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: floyd's siblings spoke lovingly about their big brother, who they called perry. >> everybody wants justice. we want justice for george. he's going to get it. he's going to get it. >> reporter: the reverend al sharpton addressed the socially distanced crowd, calling floyd's death a symbol of black americans' plight. >> it's time for us to stand up in george's name and say, "get your knee off our necks." the reason why we are marching all over the world is, we were like george-- we couldn't breathe. not because there was something wrong with our lungs, but because you wouldn't take your knee off our neck! >> reporter: politicians, civil rights leaders, and celebrities like kevin hart, ludacris, and

tiffany haddish, all came to the city where floyd wanted to start a new life, to honor him and say goodbye. as the community mourned, the three officers accused of aiding in floyd's death appeared before a judge. wearing orange jumpsuits, fired officers thomas lane, alexander kueng, and tou thao listened as the charges were read. >> i cannot breathe. >> reporter: while derek chauvin pressed his knee into floyd's deck, lane and king applied pressure to his back and legs. according to a criminal report, a minute after floyd became unresponsive, lane said, "you want to imside?"r a pundne." according to personnel files released today, chauvin had at least two letters of reprimand, and he worked as a security guard at the same restaurant where floyd was also a bouncer. floyd's brother philonise says chauvin should be charged with

first-degree murder. is it possible chauvin knew exactly who george floyd was, and that this was personal in some ways? >> i would think it was personal. >> reporter: you think it is? >> i think it is. >> reporter: what gives you that impression? >> if i'm working in the club and i'm the officer, i see everybody going in. i see everybody coming out. so, of course it was premeditated. >> reporter: you think it was. >> i think it was. >> reporter: today's tribute was for a man the world learned about just 10 days ago, and now, his name is fueling a movement. floyd family attorney benjamin crump: >> do not cooperate with evil. protest against evil. join the young people in the streets protesting against the evil, the inhumane, the torture that they witnessed on that video! >> o'donnell: and, jeff, you have been here for 10 days, since the beginning of this, from the protests, now the

memorial service. have you noticed the tensions easing? >> reporter: well, sure. initially, obviously, this was a crime scene, so it was natural to see anger and frustration. now, look at it, this large diverse crowd. they are celebrating life here. but they're also, norah, planning for action. >> o'donnell: and saying his name. george floyd. >> say his name! >> george floyd! >> o'donnell: thank you, jeff. in the past 24 hours, peaceful protests across the country have far outnumbered incidents of violence stemming from the killing of george floyd. in new york today, thousands turned out to remember george floyd, walking over the brooklyn bridge, chanting his name. quite a contrast after a night of unrest in the city where police and protesters were in sometimes-violent clashes. jericka duncan has been covering the protests from the beginning, and she joins us again there tonight. jericka. >> reporter: that's right. we've been talking to protesters all day long. we walked about two miles to this location. they said today is really about

reflecting on the injustice in this country, also asking that important question of, where do we go from here? this aon, thousandck park in brooklyn t >> you are not alone. you are not alone. >> reporter: including his younger brother terrence. >> thank god for your show of love for my brother. >> reporter: it was a day of remembrance, a cry for further action. >> where were you when cops were killing people unarmed? where were you when our educational system was broken? where were you when we needed jobs? now, you care about people's lives! >> reporter: among the crowd today, 72-year-old gloria sellers. >> to me all of this is just a continuation of everything that we have been fighting for, for years and decades. >> reporter: it's the ninth dayt thousands more marched peacefully in los angeles... >> people all over the world are joining in condemning this abuse

of human rights. >> reporter: ...while others quietly prayed outside the national cathedral in washington, d.c. nationwide, wednesday was the calmest the streets have been this week. curfews have now been lifted in salt lake city, san francisco, and los angeles. >> don't shoot! >> reporter: while most protests have been peaceful, last night, things got out of control in brooklyn, new york. police aggressively used their batons to physically move a large crowd of protesters. but in long beach, california, police announced today they are investigating this photo, where you can see an officer pointing a weapon at a man holding his two-year-old son on his shoulders. many of these protesters i spok0 curfew. today, the mayor of the city's largest city-- or, excuse me-- the mayor of the nation's largest city, bill de blasio, spoke at the tribute for floyd. he was booed, norah, and people

even turned their back on him. >> o'donnell: jericka duncan in new york city tonight. thank you. tonight, republican senator lisa murkowski of alaska says she's struggling with her support for president trump after seeing comments from former defense secretary james mattis blasting him. tonight, she says she feels we're reaching a point where "we can be more honest with the concerns that we might hold internally about the president." the comments come as the president is facing what d.c. police say could be one of the largest protests in the city's history. cbs' paula reid is at the white house tonight. paula. >> reporter: norah, the president's emphasis on law and order and his threats to deploy the military to handle protests, like the one this weekend, all part of an effort to appeal to his base, at a time when his support is slipping not just among voters but also among cuand foer defense officials. new fencing around the white house has not stopped the incoming fire from top-ranking military officials.

secretary of defense mark esper is still on the job today, even after he rejected the president's threat to use active-duty military to police the protests. president trump lashed out at his first defense secretary, general james mattis, calling him "the world's most overrated general," after mattis said wednesday night, "donald trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the american people. instead, he tries to divide us." tonight, general john kelly, the president's former chief of staff, backed mattis, calling him "an honorable man," and the president's twitter attack "nasty." mattis is the fourth former military leader to speak out against president trump's tactics. he was commended for his remarks by some republicans on capitol hill. >> well, general mattis' letter was stunning and powerful. >> reporter: one of mattis' critiques was the militarization of response to the protests. the national guard presence in washington has grown to nearly

5,000 with almost 1,000 active- duty troops also waiting in the wings just outside the district. with another huge protest scheduled for saturday, attorney general bill barr defended the administration's controversial approach, including the removal of peaceful protesters for a presidential photo-op. >> i think the president should be able to walk outside the white house and walk across the street to the church of presidents. >> reporter: recent polls show the president's public approval rating dropping, and the economy continues to slump, with nearly 1.9 million americans filing jobless claims last week. those economic numbers are a great concern to the president and his campaign. they met here at the white house today to discuss strategy, and a senior campaign official tells cbs news the president has been worried about his polling, and today, spoke at length about how to attract black voters. norah. >> o'donnell: paula reid at the white house tonight. paula, thank you. the story of george floyd has

energized a nation of young people, and nowhere more than here in minneapolis. what we saw today was a community coming together and crying out for change. it's still happening right now behind me, as you can see. but as two historians from the university of minnesota told us, the road won't be easy. >> say his name! >> george floyd! >> o'donnell: kendrick benson turned 28 today, and all he wants for his birthday, he says, is justice. when you saw the video of what happened to george floyd, how did that affect you? >> at this point, you almost get numb to it. it's a deep numbness, because you feel hopeless. you're like, you can't do nothing to stop it and it won't be able to-- it could be you. >> reporter: benson grew up here in minneapolis. >> what's his name? >> george floyd! >> o'donnell: despite a curfew, the ministry leader rallied protesters at the site of floyd's death, his first protest ever.

>> we're grieving! we're hurt! we have the right to hurt! >> now, i think when we have the world's attention it's time to make a demand that's serious, a demand that literally they have to meet, that will change the world. >> this is a new civil rights movement. >> o'donnell: keith mayes is a professor at the university of minnesota. john wright is retired from the school and both specialize in african american studies. why do you describe this as a powder keg waiting to explode? >> because the injustices are systemic. they are long-standing. they go back many decades. this is a powder keg because this is the last time that i think the community is going to sit idly by without systematic change. >> o'donnell: minnesota has one of the largest racial gaps in the country. the poverty among african americans here is nearly four times that of whites. in minneapolis, black people are seven times more likely to have a violent police encounter than whites. >> one hopes for a systemic

change. one cannot underestimate the barriers to achieving it. >> o'donnell: but kendrick benson is optimistic. what do you hope comes from this? >> to be honest, this is what's coming from it. this is different than anything you've ever seen happening here before. this is what's coming. the change is here. >> o'donnell: and what we saw here today was people kneeling together, raising their fists together, and saying george floyd's name together in the hope of change. well, tonight, we are also learning new details about the final moments of ahmaud arbery, the 25-year-old black man who was shot and killed while jogging in georgia. at a court hearing for the three men charged with murdering arbery, investigators stunned the courtroom saying one of the suspects called arbery by a racial epithet after allegedly shooting him. cbs' omar villafranca reports. >> what do we want? >> justice! >> reporter: outside, the crowd chanted for justice. travis and gregory mcmichael

watched on video conference while inside the courtroom, state investigator richard dial told a judge new details about the deadly february 23 confrontation. william roddie bryan, who recorded the shooting and is also charged with murder, told investigators, shortly after travis mcmichael shot arbery three times, he heard travis utter a racial slur. >> reporter: investigators also revealed, in arbery's final moments, he was running for his life. >> and he ran until he couldn't run anymore, and it was turn his back to a man with a shotgun, or, or fight with his bare hands against a man with a shotgun. he chose to fight. >> reporter: dial said the chase started when the father and son, as well as bryan, tried repeatedly to block arbery with

their trucks after they saw him running from a house under construction. they thought he was a burglar. prosecutors say the 25-year-old was just jogging through the neighborhood. the department of justice is also looking into possible federal hate crimes in this case. as for the three suspects, the judge ordered that they remain in jail. norah. >> o'donnell: omar villafranca, thank you. and there is still much more news ahead on tonight's "cbs evening news." the las vegas strip is back in business, with some noticeable changes in light of the pandemic. later, channeling grief into hope-- we'll meet the artists whose work is helping a community heal. now might not be the best time to ask yourself, 'are my bones strong?' life is full of make or break moments. that's why it's so important to help reduce your risk of fracture with prolia®. only prolia® is proven to help strengthen and protect bones from fracture with 1 shot every 6 months.

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>> o'donnell: this entire block has become a memorial to george floyd. but the focal point is a mural 20 feet wide and 6.5 feet high, and we spoke to the creators about its message. steps from the very spot george floyd took his last breath, this mural has now become a place to gather and to mourn. >> it's a way to speak when words are not enough. >> o'donnell: last week, xena goldman, cadex herrera, and a small group of artists completed the portrait in less than a day. why did you feel so strongly about creating this mural? >> i was incredibly angry that i was watching another man die at the hand of law enforcement. we've seen this so many times. we needed to take action. >> and particularly now, we feel like the entire country and worlis scrming for justice. and this is our way of screaming as well. >> o'donnell: surrounding his face, a sunflower.

look closely, and you'll see the names of others: tamir rice, freddie gray, philando castile. why did you want to create the sunflower around george floyd? >> the sunflower represents longevity and loyalty. the names inside the flower represent the seeds that were never able to grow into fully developed flowers. >> o'donnell: you'll find murals for george floyd as far as los angeles, england, even syria. but this one in minneapolis has become a beacon for healing. >> i wanted to create something that would help me heal personally, and, not realizing that through this, it would help the community heal as well. >> o'donnell: and it is helping this community heal. we'll be right back. motorcycle riders love the open road. and geico loves helping riders get to where they're going,

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help but feel the weight of this historic moment. if george floyd's death is a tipping point, this

>>